Rider White Tarot

Front 1

Queen of Wands - The wands throughout this suit are always in leaf, as it is a suit of life and animation. Emotionally and otherwise, the Queen's personality corresponds to that of the King, but is more magnetic.

Back 1

Meaning=A dark woman, countrywoman, friendly, chaste, loving, honourable. If the card beside her signifies a man, she is well disposed towards him; if a woman, she is interested in the Querent. Also, love of money
Reversed=Good, economical, obliging, serviceable. Signifies also opposition, jealousy, even deceit and infidelity

Front 2

The High Priestess -

Back 2

Meaning=Secrets, mystery, the future as yet unrevealed; the woman who interests the Querent, if male; the Querent, if female; silence, tenacity, wisdom, science
Reversed: Passion, moral or physical ardour, conceit, surface knowledge.

Front 3

Ten of Cups - Cups in a rainbow; it is contemplated in wonder and ecstasy by a man and woman below, evidently husband and wife. His right arm is about her, his left raised upwards; she raises her right arm. The two children dancing near them have not observed the miracle but are happy in their own way.

Back 3

Meaning=Contentment, response of the entire heart; the perfection of that state; if with several picture-cards, a person who is taking charge of the Querent's interests; also the town, village, or country inhabited by the Querent.
Reversed=Repose of the false heart, indignation, violence

Front 4

Nine of Wands - The figure leans upon his staff and has an expectant look, as if awaiting an enemy. Behind him are eight other staves standing erect, in orderly disposition, like a palisade.

Back 4

Meaning=Signifies strength in opposition. If attacked, he'll meet the onslaught boldly. The possible adjuncts are delay, suspension, adjournment.
Reversed=Obstacles, adversity, calamity

Front 5

King of Wands-The physical and emotional nature of this card is dark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned and noble. The king holds up a flowering wand and wears a cap of maintenance beneath his crown. He connects with the lion which is on his throne.

Back 5

Meaning=Dark man, friendly, countryman, generally married, honest and conscientious
Reversed=Good, but severe; austere, yet tolerant.

Front 6

Queen of Cups - Beautiful, fair, dreamy, as one who sees visions in a cup.

Back 6

Meaning=Good, fair woman; honest, devoted woman, who will do service to the Querent; loving intelligence and hence the gift of vision; success, hapiness, pleasure; also wisdom, virtue.
Reversed=Accounts vary: good woman; otherwise, distinguished woman but one not to be trusted; perverse woman, vice, dishonour, depravity

Front 7

Three of Pentacles - A sculptor at his work in a monastery.

Back 7

Meaning=Vocation, trade, skilled labour; usually, however, regarded as a card of nobility, aristocracy, renown, glory.
Reversed: mediocrity in work and otherwise, puerility, pettiness, weakness.

Front 8

The Hierophant -

Back 8

Marriage, alliance, captivity, servitude; by another account, mercy and goodness; inspiration; the man to whome the Querent has recourse.
Reversed: Society, good understanding, concord, over-kindness, weakness.

Front 9

Six of Swords - A ferryman carrying passengers in his punt to the further shore.

Back 9

Meaning=Journey by water, route, way, envoy, commissionary, expedient.
Reversed: Declaration, confession, publicity; one account says that it is a proposal of love.

Front 10

Knight of Pentacles - Rides a slow, enduring, heavy horse, to which his own appearance corresponds

Back 10

Meaning=Utility, serviceableness, interest, responsibility, rectitude
Reversed=Inertia, idleness, repose of that kind, stagnation; also placidity, discouragement, carelessness.

Front 11

Queen of Pentacles - The face suggests that of a dark woman, whose qualities might be summed up in the idea of greatness of soul; she has also the serious cast of intelligence; she contemplates her symbol and may see worlds in it.

Back 11

Meaning=Opulence, generosity, magnificence, security, liberty.
Reversed=Evil, suspicion, suspense, fear, mistrust.

Front 12

Seven of Cups - Strange chalices of vision.

Back 12

Meaning=Fairy Favours, images of reflection, sentiment, imagination, things seen in the glass of contemplation; some attainment in these degrees but nothing permanent or substantial is suggested.
Reversed=Desire, will, determination, project.

Front 13

Ace of Swords - A hand comes out of a cloud, grasping a sword, the point of which is encircled by a crown.

Back 13

Meaning = Triumph, the excessive degree in everything, conquest, triumph of force. It is a card of great force, in love as well as in hatred.
Reversed=The same, but with results are disastrous,; another account says conception, childbirth, augmentation, multiplicity.

Front 14

Nine of Cups - A comfortable character is feasting to his heart's content, and an ample supply of refreshing wine is on the arched counter behind him.

Back 14

Meaning=Concord, contentment, physical well being; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made.
Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes and imperfections.

Front 15

Three of Wands - A calm, stately figure, with his back turned, looks from a cliff's edge at ships passing over the sea. Three staves are planted in the ground and he leans slightly on one of them.

Back 15

Meaning=He symbolises established strength, enterprise, effort, trade, commerce, discovery; those are his ships, bearing his merchandise, which are sailing over the sea.
Reversed: The end of troubles, suspension, or end of adversity, toil and disappointment.

Front 16

The Hanged Man

Back 16

Meaning=Wisdom, circumspection, discernment, trials, sacrifice, intuition, divination, prophecy
Reversed=Selfishness, the crowd, body politic.

Front 17

Four of Swords - The effigy of a knight in the attitude of prayer, at full length on his tomb.

Back 17

Meaning = Vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit's repose, exile, tomb and coffin.
Reversed = Wise administration, circumspection, economy, avarice, precaution, testament.

Front 18

Wheel of Fortune

Back 18

Meaning = Destiny, fortune, success, luck, happiness.
Reversed = Increase, abundance, superfluity

Front 19

Eight of Swords - A woman, bound and hoodwinked, with the swords of the card about her.

Back 19

Meaning = Bad news, violent chagrin, crisis, censure, power in trammels, conflict, calumny; also sickness
Reversed=Disquiet, difficulty, opposition, accident, treachery; what is unforseen; fatality.

Front 20

Ace of Pentacles - A hand - coming, as usual, out of a cloud - holds up a pentacle

Back 20

Meaning = Perfect contentment, felicity, ecstasy; also speedy intelligence; gold.
Reversed = The evil side of wealth, bad intelligence; also great riches.

Front 21

The Hermit

Back 21

Meaning = Prudence; also and especially treason, dissimulation, roguery, corruption.
Reversed = Concealment, disguise, policy, fear, unreasoned caution.

Front 22

The Emperor

Back 22

Meaning = Stability, power, protection; a great person; aid, reason, conviction.
Reversed = Benevolence, compassion, credit; also confusion to enemies, obstruction, immaturity.

Front 23

Eight of Wands - A motion through the immovable - a flight of wands through an open country.

Back 23

Meaning = Activity in undertakings, the path of such activity, swiftness, as that of an express messenger; great haste, great hope, speed towards an end which promises happiness; generally, that which is on the move; also the arrows of love.
Reversed = Arrows of jealousy, internal dispute, stingings of conscience, quarrels.

Front 24

Death

Back 24

Meaning = End, mortality, destruction, corruption.
Reversed = Inertia, sleep, lethargy, petrifaction, somnambulism.

Front 25

The Devil

Back 25

Meaning = Ravage, violence, vehemence, extraordinary efforts, force, fatality; that which is predestined but not for this reason evil.
Reversed = Evil, fatality, weakness, pettiness, blindness.

Front 26

Eight of Cups - A dejected man is deserting the cups of his happiness, enterprise, undertaking or previous concern.

Back 26

Meaning = The card's picture + other readings including entirely antithetical, giving joy, mildness, timidity, honor, modesty.
Reversed = Great joy, happiness, feasting.

Front 27

King of Cups - Holds a short sceptre in his left hand and a great cup in his right; his throne is set upon the sea; on one side a ship is riding and on the other is a dolphin leaping. The sign of the Cup naturally refers to water, which appears in all of the court cards.

Back 27

Meaning = Fair man, made of business, law or divinity; responsible, disposed to oblige the Querent; also equity, art and science, including those who profess science, law and art; creative intelligence.
Reversed = Dishonest, double-dealing man; roguery, exaction, injustice, vice, scandal

Front 28

King of Pentacles - The face is dark suggesting courage, but somewhat lethargic in tendency. The bull's head is a recurrent symbol on his throne.

Back 28

Meaning=Valour, realising intelligence, business and normal intellectual aptitude, sometimes mathematical gifts and attainments of this kind; success in these paths.
Reversed = Vice, weakness, ugliness, perversity, corruption, peril.

Front 29

Seven of Pentacles - A young man leaning on his staff looking intently at seven pentacles attached to a bush on his right. One would say these were his treasures and that his heart was there.

Back 29

Meaning = In the main, it is a card of money, business, barter, but one reading gives altercation, quarrel; and another innocence, ingenuity, purgation.

Front 30

The Tower

Back 30

Misery, distress, indigence, adversity, calamity, disgrace, deception, ruin.
Reversed = According to one, the same but in a lesser degree; also oppression, imprisonment, tyranny.

Front 31

The Moon

Back 31

Hidden enemies, danger, calumny, darkness, terror, deception, error.
Reversed = Instability, inconstancy, silence, lesser degrees of deception and error.

Front 32

Four of Pentacles - A crowned figure, with a pentacle over his crown, clasps another with hands and arms; two pentacles are under his feet.

Back 32

The surety of possession, cleaving to that which one has, gifts, legacy, inheritance.
Reversed = Suspense, delay, opposition.

Front 33

Six of Cups - Children in an old garden, their cups filled with flowers.

Back 33

Meaning = A card of the past and of memories, looking back as - for example - on childhood; happiness, enjoyment, but coming rather from the past; things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, giving new relations, new knowledge, new environment, and then the children are playing in a newly entered precinct.
Reversed = The future, renewal, that which will come to pass presently.

Front 34

Ten of Wands - A man oppressed by the weight of the ten staves he carries.

Back 34

A card of many significances. 1) Connects with honour and good faith. It is oppression simply, but is also fortune, gain and any kind of success of these things.
2) a card of perfidity, false-seeming and disguise, the place in which the figure is approaching may suffer from the rods he carries. Success is stultified if the Nine of Swords follows, and if it is a question of a lawsuit, there will be certain loss.
Reversed = Contrarieties, difficulties, intrigues, and their analogies.

Front 35

Seven of Wands - A young man on a craggy mountaintop brandishes a staff while six others are raised against him from below.

Back 35

It's a card of valour, for there are six attacking one who, however, has the vantage position. Intellectually, it signifies discusssion, wordy strife; in business - negotiations, war of trade, barter, competition. It's also for success, for the combatant is on the top and his enemies may be unable to reach him.
Reversed = Perplexity, embarrassment, anxiety.

Front 36

Two of Cups - A youth and maiden are pledging one another, and above their cups rises the caduceus of Hermes, between the great wings of which there appears a lion's head. It's a variant of sign which is found in some old examples of this card.

Back 36

Love, passion, frienship, affinity, union, concord, sympathy, the interrelation of the sexes, and - as a suggestion apart from all offices of divination - that desire which is not in nature, but by which nature is sanctified.

Front 37

Page of Pentacles - A young man look intently at a pentacle that hovers over his raised hands.

Back 37

Application, study, scholarship, reflection; another reading says news, messages and the bringer of these; also rule, management.
Reversed = Prodigality, dissipation, liberality, luxury; unfavourable news.

Front 38

Ten of Pentacles - A man and woman beneath an archway which gives entrance to a house and domain.

Back 38

Gain, riches, family matters, archives, extraction, the abode of a family.
Reversed = Chance, fatality, loss, robbery, games of hazard, sometimes gift, dowry, pension.

Front 39

Two of Pentacles - A man is dancing and has a pentacle in both hands, and they are joined by an endless cord in the infinity configuration.

Back 39

May represent gaiety, recreation and its connections, which is the subject of the design; but it's also read as news and messages in writing, as obstacles, agitation, trouble, embroilment.
Reversed = Enforced gaiety, stimulated enjoyment, literal sense, handwriting, composition, letters of exchange.

Front 40

Six of Wands - A laurelled horseman bears a staff adorned with a laurel crown; footmen with staves are at his side.

Back 40

It's a victor triumphing, but it's also great news, such as might be carried in state by the king's courier; it is expectation crowned with its own desire, the crown of hope, and so on.
Reversed = Apprehension, fear, as of a victorious enemy at the gate, treachery, disloyalty, as of gates being opened to the enemy.

Front 41

The World

Back 41

Assured success, voyage, route, emigration, flight, change of place.
Reversed = Inertia, fixity, stagnation, permanence.

Front 42

Queen of Wands - The wands are always with leafs as it's a suit of life and animation. Emotionally and otherwise, the Queen's personality equates the king's, but is more magnetic.

Back 42

A dark woman, countrywoman, friendly, chaste, loving, honourable. If the card beside her signifies a man, she is well disposed towards him; if a woman, she is interested in the Querent. Also, love of money.
Reversed = Good, economical, obliging, serviceable. Signifies also oppression, jealousy, even deceit and infidelity.

Front 43

Zero - The Fool

Back 43

Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication, delirium, frenzy, bewrayment.
Reversed = Negligence, absence, distribution, carelessness, apathy, nullity, vanity.

Front 44

Justice

Back 44

Equity, rightness, probity, executive.
Reversed = Law in all departments, bigotry, bias, excessive severity.

Front 45

Nine of Swords - One seated on her bed in lamentation, with the swords over her.

Back 45

Death, failure, miscarriage, delay, deception, disappointment, despair.
Reversed = Imprisonment, suspicion, doubt, reasonable fear, shame.

Front 46

King of Swords - He sits in judgement, holding the unsheathed sign of his suit.

Back 46

Whatever arises out of the idea of judgement and all its connections - power, command, authority, militant intelligence, law, offices of the crown, and so on.
Reversed = Cruelty, perversity, barbarity, perfidy, evil intention.

Front 47

Page of Cups - A fair, rather effeminate page, with a studious and intent face, contemplates a fish rising from a cup to look at him.

Back 47

Fair young man, one impelled to render service and with whom the Querent will be connected; a studious youth; news, message, application, reflection, meditation; also these things directed to business.
Reversed = Taste, inclination, attachment, seduction, deception, artifice.

Front 48

Two of Swords - A hoodwinked figure balances two swords on her shoulders.

Back 48

Conformity and the eqquipoise which it suggests, courage, friendship, concord in a state of arms, affection, intimacy
Reversed = Imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.

Front 49

Ace of Cups - The water beneath has water-lilies; the hand comes out of the cloud, holding in its palm the cup, from which four streams are pouring; a dove, bearing in its billa cross-marked host, descends to place the water in the cup; the dew of water is falling on all sides. It is an intimation of that which may lie behind the lesser Arcana.

Back 49

House of the true heart, joy, content, abode, nourishment, abundance, fertility, holy table, happiness
Reversed = House of the false heart, mutation, instability, revolution.

Front 50

Two of Wands - A tall man looks from a battlemented roof over sea and shore, he holds a globe in his right and a staff in his left rests on the battlement; another is fixed in a ring. The Rose and Cross and Lily should be noticed on the far left.

Back 50

Between the alternative readings there is no marriage possible: on the one hand, riches, fortune, magnificence; on the other, physical suffering, disease, chagrin, sadness, mortification. The design gives one suggestion: here is a lord overlooking his dominion and alternately contemplating a globe; it looks like the malady, the mortification, the sadness of Alexander amid the grandeur of the world's wealth.
Reversed = Surprise, wonder, enchantment, emotion, trouble, fear.

Front 51

Page of Swords - A lithe, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands, while in the act of swift walking.

Back 51

Authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance, spying, examination, and the qualities belonging to these activities.
Reversed = More evil side of these qualities,; what is unforeseen, unprepared state, sickness is also intimated.

Front 52

Four of Cups - A young man is seated under a tree and contemplates three cups set on the grass before him; an arm coming out of a cloud offers him another cup. Even so, his expression is one of discontent with his environment.

Back 52

Weariness, disgust, aversion, imaginary vexations, as if the wine of this world had caused satiety only; another wine, as if a fairy gift, is now offered him, but he sees no consolation in this. This is also a card of blended pleasure.
Reversed = Novelty, presage, new instruction, new relations.

Front 53

Ace of Wands - A hand coming out of a cloud grasps a stout wand or club.

Back 53

Creation, invention, enterprise, the powers which result in these; principle, beginning, source; birth, family, origin; the beginning of enterprises; according to another account, money, fortune, inheritance.
Reversed = Fall, decadence, ruin, perdition, to perish; also - not unclouded joy.

Front 54

Temperance

Back 54

Economy, moderation, frugality, management, accommodation.
Reversed = Things connected with churches, religions, sects, the priesthood; also disunion, unfortunate combinations, competing interests.

Front 55

The Chariot

Back 55

Succour, providence; also war, triumph, presumption, vengeance, trouble
Reversed = Riot, quarrel, dispute, litigation, defeat

Front 56

Nine of Pentacles - A woman, with a bird upon her wrist, stands amid many grape vines in the garden of a great house.

Back 56

Prudence, safety, success, accomplishment, certitude, discernment
Reversed = Roguery, deception, voided project, bad faith.

Front 57

Four of Wands - Four great staves are planted in the foreground which suspend garland. Two females hold up nosegays, and at their side is a moat, leading to an old manorial house.

Back 57

There are for once almost on the surface - country life, repose, concord, harmony, prosperity, peace, and the perfected work of these.
Reversed - The meaning remains unaltered; it is prosperity, increase, felicity, beauty, embellishment.

Front 58

The Sun - A naked child, mounted on a white horse, displays a red standard. It's the destiny of the supernatural East and the great and holy light which goes before the endless procession of humanity, coming out from the walled garden of the sensitive life and passing on the journey home.

Back 58

Significance - Transit from the manifest light of this world, represented by the glorious sun of earth, to the light of the world to come, which goes before aspiration and is typified by the heart of a child.

Front 59

Knight of Wands - He is shown as if upon a journey, armed with a short wand, and although wearing armor is not on a warlike errand. He is passing mounds of pyramids.

Back 59

Departure, absence, flight, emigration. A dark young man, friendly, change of residence.
Reversed - Rupture, division, interruption, discord

Front 60

Judgement

Back 60

Change of position, renewal, outcome
Reversed - pusillanimity, simplicity; also deliberation, decision, sentence

Front 61

Queen of Swords - Her right hand raises the weapon vertically and the hilt rests on an arm of her royal chair; the left hand is extended, the arm raised; her face is severe, chastened, and suggest familiarity with sorrow.

Back 61

Widowhood, female sadness and embarrassment, absence, sterility, mourning, privation.
Reversed - Malice, bigotry, artifice, prudent, deceit

Front 62

Eight of Pentacles - An artist is stone at work.

Back 62

Work, employment, commission, craftsmanship, skill in craft and business

Front 63

Five of Wands - A posse of youths are brandishing staves, as in sport or strife. It is a card of mimic warfare.

Back 63

Imitation, as for example a sham fight, the strenuous competition and struggle of the search after riches and fortune. Hence some attributions say that it is a card of gold, gain, opulence.
Reversed - Litigation, disputes, trickery, contradiction.

Front 64

Five of Pentacles - Two medicants in a snowstorm pass a lighted casement

Back 64

It foretells material trouble above all, whether in the form of illustrated - that is, destitution - or otherwise. For some cartomancists, it is a card of love and lovers - wife, husband, friend, mistress; also concordance, affinities. These alternatives cannot be harmonized.
Reversed - Disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy

Front 65

Three of Swords - Three swords pierce a heart with cloud and rain behind it

Back 65

Removal, absence, delay, division, rupture, dispersion, and all that the design signifies naturally.
Reversed - Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion.

Front 66

The Empress

Back 66

Fruitfulness, action, initiative, length of days; the unknown, clandestine; also difficulty, doubt, ignorance,
Reversed - Light, truth, the unraveling of involved matters, public rejoicings; according to another reading, vacillation.

Front 67

Five of Cups - A dark cloaked figure, looking sideways at three prone cups; two others stand upright behind him; a bridge is in the background, leading to a small keep or holding.

Back 67

It's a card of loss, but something remains over; three have been taken, but two are left; it is a card of inheritance, patrimony, transmission, but not corresponding to expectations; with some it is a card of marriage, but not without bitterness or frustration.
Reversed - news, alliances, affinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects.

Front 68

Seven of Wands - A man in the act of carrying away five swords rapidly; the two others of the card remain stuck in the ground. A camp close at hand.

Back 68

Design, attempt, wish, hope, confidence; also quarreling, a plan that may fail, annoyance.
Reversed - Good advice, counsel, instruction, slander, babbling.

Front 69

Knight of Cups - Graceful, but not warlike; riding quietly, wearing a winged helmet, referring to the higher graces of the imagination which sometimes characterizes this card.

Back 69

Arrival, approach - sometimes that of a messenger; advances, proposition, demeanor, invitation, incitement.
Reversed - Trickery, artifice, subtly, swindling, duplicity, fraud.

Front 70

Knight of Swords - In full course, as if scattering his enemies.

Back 70

Skill, bravery, defence, address, enmity, wrath, war, destruction, opposition, resistance, ruin.
Reversed - imprudence, incapacity, extravagance.

Front 71

Page of Wands - A young man stands in the act of proclamation. He is unknown but faithful and his tidings are strange.

Back 71

Dark young man, faithful, a lover, an envoy, a postman. Beside a man, he will bear favourable testimony concerning him. A dangerous rival, if followed by the Page of Cups. He has the chief qualities of his suit.
reversed - Anecdotes, announcements, evil news. Also indecision and the instability which accompanies it.

Front 72

Strength

Back 72

Power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity.
Reversed - Despotism, abuse of power, weakness, discord.

Front 73

The Magician

Back 73

Skill, diplomacy, address, sickness, pain, loss, disaster, self confidence, will; the Querent, if male.
Reversed - Physician, Magus, mental disease, disgrace, disquiet.

Front 74

Ten of Swords - A prostrate figure, pierced by all the swords belonging to the card.

Back 74

Whatever is intimated by the design, also pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation.
Reversed - Advantage, profit, success, favour, but none of these are permanent; also power and authority.

Front 75

The Star

Back 75

Loss, theft, privation, abandonment; another reading says hope and bright prospects.
Reversed - Arrogance, haughtiness, impotence.

Front 76

Six of Pentacles - A man dressed as a merchant weighs money in a pair of scales and distributes it to the needy and distressed.

Back 76

Presents, gifts, gratification; another account says attention, vigilance; now is the accepted time, present prosperity, and so on.
Reversed - Desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion.

Front 77

Five of Swords j- A disdainful man looks after two retreating and dejected figures. Their two swords lie upon the ground. He carries two others on his left shoulder, and a third sword in his right hand, point to earth. He is the master in possession of the field.

Back 77

Degradation, destruction, reversal, infamy, dishonor, loss
Reversed - the same; burial and obsequies.

Front 78

The Lovers

Back 78

Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome
Reversed - Failure, foolish designs.

Front 79

Three of cups - Maidens in a garden ground with cups uplifted, as if pleging one another.

Back 79

The conclusion of any matter in plenty, perfection and merriment; happy outcome, victory, fulfillment, solace, healing.
reversed - Expedition, dispatch, achievement, end.